


storm warning

by blackkat



Series: Horoscope Drabbles [23]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-05 05:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17318834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: "You can't go out there," Minato says, and his eyes are desperate.





	storm warning

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Normal Horoscopes on Tumblr:
> 
> Aries: The storm sirens wail, the sound of colossal footsteps thunder closer. A low mournful sound that seems to crack the sky.

“You can't go out there,” Minato says, and his eyes are desperate.

Kakashi pauses in his hold, glancing back, and from the gates of the compound the wail of the storm sirens is practically deafening. There are dark clouds boiling on the horizon, and the wind is picking up, strong enough that Minato is hard to hear even so close.

“I have to,” he says, and knows it with a bone-deep certainty he’s never felt about anything before.

From outside, past the chain link and barbed wire and metal sheeting that blocks the view of the wastes, something rumbles. A footstep, vast, shakes the ground, and the red sky _burns_.

“Minato, I have to go,” Kakashi says, and pulls hard at his arm. He can hear something, over the wind, over the sirens, over the footfalls of something huge approaching.

Minato's expression twists, but he doesn’t let go of Kakashi’s arm even as the air gets thicker, heavier. “Kakashi, your father will—”

“He has you,” Kakashi says, and he doesn’t mean it unkindly. “If something goes wrong—”

“This is _crazy_ , Kakashi, you can't survive out there—”

But there's a sound over the wind, a cry, carrying and piercing. It _hurts_ tears through Kakashi’s chest and splits the sky, something so terribly sad that Kakashi can’t stand it. He twists, slamming a shoulder into Minato's chest and knocking him back. It catches Minato off guard, and he yelps, stumbles, almost falls.

It’s all the opportunity Kakashi needs to spin on his heel and bolt out through the gate as it’s hauled shut. Minato shouts behind him, and so does Gai, but it will take them at least ten minutes to get the gate open again once the locking process finishes, and Kakashi doesn’t need even that long.

The footsteps are closer now, heavier, and Kakashi can feel them in the ground as he heads for the edge of the rise the fortress is built on. The wastes are visible for miles, and it’s easy enough to see the storm rolling in, the sunset staining the clouds with blood. And in the midst of the storm, leading the first wave, is a beast of sun-red and blood-gold, looming and vast. He staggers, footsteps dragging like each step is forced, a compulsion, and Kakashi’s breath tangles in his throat. Throwing himself forward, he leaps down the hill, skidding over the loose rock and shale, hits the flat ground before the approaching storm and staggers.

The edge of the clouds is close. It’s going to sweep over the fortress in minutes, but Kakashi doesn’t have eyes for the danger. He looks instead to the monster that _is_ the storm, fire flickering around his muzzle, wind howling around his feet. Red eyes are glazed, dark, and Kakashi moves before he can even consider the wisdom of it. The red sky dyes the ground, his skin, the moon that’s rising, but Kakashi does hesitate.

That sound shakes the world again, fit to tear the sky, and he calls, “Kurama!”

As if the world is holding its breath, everything goes silent.

Kurama’s next step misses. His leg buckles and he falls, but as he does, Kakashi grabs for him. His fingers sink into fur, but there's a ripple, a shift. Fur turns to dark skin, mass falls away, and in the shape of a man Kurama tumbles forward to fall against Kakashi’s chest.

“Kakashi?” he rasps.

“There you are,” Kakashi says, light, like his heart isn't being stitched back together in his chest. He sinks down to the dusty ground, not letting Kurama go, and wraps his arms tight around bare shoulders as he buries his face in crimson hair. Breathes out, shaky with relief, and says, “That was the third time you’ve disappeared on me. You're wearing a bell now, no argument.”

Kurama’s laugh cracks out of his throat, echoed by the roll of thunder, and he curls clawed fingers into Kakashi’s shirt. “I thought they had you,” he says, and there's something wild in his face when he glances up. “I thought they’d _killed_ you.”

Kakashi kisses him, because there's nothing else to do, no other option he can think of. Kurama’s mouth is fire and heat and steel and stormwinds, touched with the tingling cold of lightning, and it takes Kakashi’s breath away. “My father rescued me,” he breathes when they part. “He and his men took the fortress. I'm fine.”

Mouth tightening, Kurama traces the fresh scar slanting down over Kakashi’s eye. “You are now,” he says bitterly. “I couldn’t—”

“You tore yourself out of your mountains and made it all the way here,” Kakashi says, and there's still a part of him that can't believe Kurama is here despite the weight and warmth of him. “I thought your seals…?”

“I was desperate. Apparently you getting your idiot self tortured and killed was all the motivation I needed to break out.” Kurama snorts, raising one hand, and there's the fading imprint of a seal there, carved deep into the spirit’s skin. It will probably scar, now that he’s taken human form. Kakashi’s chest turns over, and he catches Kurama’s hand, brings his wrist up to his mouth. He kisses the wound gently, and Kurama’s free hand fists in his hair, drags him into another kiss.

“I thought you were _dead_ ,” he growls against Kakashi’s lips.

 _And you still came anyway_ , Kakashi doesn’t answer. He just pulls Kurama close and kisses him again.


End file.
